I'm not seeing the T2 and the Wave being even in the same league. I've sailed all the boats mentioned except the T2, and my seat of the pants take would be that the Wave offers only slightly more performance than a Sunfish, albeit with a substantially larger carrying capacity. My old 14 is faster than the Wave! I think I'd start out with at least a Getaway simply for the growth potential. Waves are fun and, I'm sure a great boat to learn on, but I think one would grow out of it rather quickly.

You are exactly right in that one can NEVER have enough cats or boats generally! The conditions you describe are what possessed me, about 10 years ago to buy my 14t- a pristine '82 out of a barn in Missouri. Couldn't handle the 16 solo in that. The turbo's not so pretty any more- it got tossed in one of the hurricanes, but she's still seaworthy. Don't know why the Sunfish would hide in wind and waves! That's the best part. When I was a kid, I had tons of fun on my Sunfish in almost any blow.

Turbofan:Talking about your sunfish when you were a kid brings back memories. I spent two summers on lake Winona in Madison, WI trying to learn how to master my sun fish, I must have been a pretty bad sailer, as I couldn't sail upwind in much over 15 mph wind, and I was in the water almost as much as on, still had fun though. Frustrated I ended up selling it and got into racing hydroplanes, and didn't think much about sailing again until moving to Florida 30 yrs later. So we totally missed the cat craze. Where we lived it was a two hr drive to any decent body of water (Mississippi , where my parents kept their cabin cruiser). I don't recall ever seeing a cat type boat until much later in life ( the consequences of living in the corn belt I guess). I also remember my friends and I going into corn fields and stealing giant foot long corn and eating, not knowing until much later in life that there are two different kinds of corn, one edible, and the other is not ( true story.....who knew lol,,,,, life in the corn belt). A totally different life from south Florida and the keys.Bob

I own both a Getaway and a H 16. I acquired the Getaway when my kids were younger and it is an excellent choice for a family. it can handle 4 people with no problems. The kids loved the forward trampoline and there are no concerns about pitchpoling, etc.

We bought a 16 last year to race and because the getaway is HEAVY. My teenage son and I could move it up and down the beach but just my wife and I have trouble. The getaway weighs about 550 lbs. also, stepping the mast is not easy and it is much heavier than the 16 mast, especially with the float on the getaway mast.

It sounds like two boats might be in your cards, the first would be a family type boat (reliable and fairly safe), and the second maybe an H16 project boat.

If I had someplace to store a H16 project boat I would get one in a heartbeat. Actually I met a guy at the Sarasota Sailing squadron last weekend who had picked up an 84 H16 for a thousand bucks, it was in great shape. It was his first time sailing ever, I tried to help him a little, but I'm not an H16 guy, I suggested there are a ton of H16 guys at the Sailing squadron, any of whom would be more than happy to show him all the ins and outs of his boat (pretty good bunch of people there). Why can't I find stuff like that ( LOL).Bob